Sensex, Nifty end flat; bank, oil & pharma stocks drag

3:30 pm Market close: The market ended flat with oil & gas stocks dragging major indices. The Sensex was up 40.95 points at 29135.88 and the Nifty was up 3.85 points at 8809.35. About 1336 shares advanced, 1584 shares declined and 195 shares were unchanged.

ITC gained 3 percent while TCS, Bharti, HUL and HDFC were top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers were Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, Hindalco, Hero and Axis Bank.

3:10 pm PSU capitalisation: PSU banks will have to raise funds from the capital market to meet capital requirement norms in absence of adequate financial support from the government in the forthcoming Budget, rating agency Moody's said today. For the current fiscal, the government has earmarked Rs 11,200 crore for capital infusion in state-owned banks. Of that the government has said it will soon infuse Rs 6,990 crore in nine banks including SBI, Bank of Baroda (BoB) and Punjab National Bank (PNB).

"Unless the government materially increases the capital allocation to state-owned banks in the next budget, the only way these banks can improve their capital ratios is by accessing equity capital markets," Moody's Investors Service said. The government in the current fiscal has adopted new criteria in which the banks which are more efficient would be rewarded with extra capital so that they can further strengthen their position. The capital infusion has been decided based on the performance of the bank.

3:00 pm Fund raising: Private sector lender Yes Bank today said it will be raising Rs 500 crore through issuance of "green infrastructure bonds", which will be deployed to fund renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.

The bank claimed it is the first such issue in the country and the money will be used to fund solar power, wind power, biomass, and small hydel projects. The bond will have a tenor of ten years, it said in a statement, adding the issue has already been launched.

The city-headquartered lender said it had made a commitment to fund 5,000 MW of renewable energy projects during the recent summit organised by the Government and added the proceeds from the issue will be used to fund the same.

2:30 pm New patent: Pharmaceutical firm Suven Life Sciences has been granted one patent each by Australia, Canada, Japan and New Zealand for its drug used in treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. "Secured patents in Australia, Canada, Japan and New Zealand to one of their New Chemical Entity (NCE) for CNS therapy through new mechanism of action H3 Inverse agonist," the company said in a BSE filing. These patents are valid until 2030, it added.

Neurodegenerative diseases include Alzheimer's disease, Schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease. The granted claims of the patent include the class of selective H3 ligands discovered by Suven and are useful in treatment of cognitive impairment associated with neurodegenerative disorders, the statement said.

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The Sensex is up 128.85 points at 29223.78 and the Nifty is up 31.55 points at 8837.05. About 1287 shares have advanced, 1477 shares declined and 212 shares are unchanged.

M&M, ITC, HDFC, Bharti Airtel and TCS are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Sun Pharma, Hero, Reliance, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank.

Oil stocks are down as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley may look at re-imposing 5 percent customs duty on crude oil imports to shore up revenues by USD 3 billion and create a level-playing field for domestic producers.

Presently, the government does not levy any import or customs duty on crude oil imports. On the other hand, domestically produced crude oil attracts two percent central sales tax, something which imported oil is exempted from.

Gold extended gains to a third session, bolstered by safe-haven bids amid a softer dollar and jitters ahead of negotiations regarding Greece's future in the euro zone.

Traders were eyeing a meeting of euro zone finance ministers in Brussels later on Monday to find common ground with Greece's new government, elected on a pledge to scrap the austerity strictures of Greece's international bailouts.

If the meeting produces no results, there is a concern that Greece will be headed for a credit crunch that would force it out of the euro zone.

Sensex gains over 200 pts; HUL, Tata Motors jump 2-3%

10:30 am Market check: The Sensex is up 214.10 points or 0.7 percent at 29309.03, and the Nifty is up 58.75 points or 0.7 percent at 8864.25. About 1290 shares have advanced, 877 shares declined, and 174 shares are unchanged.

HUL is up 3 percent, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, M&M and Tata Steel are up around 2 percent each.

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The market continues to remain firm. The Sensex is up 165.44 points at 29260.37 and the Nifty is up 42.95 points at 8848.45. About 1144 shares have advanced, 739 shares declined, and 158 shares are unchanged.

Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, Sesa Sterlite, HUL and Coal India are top gainers in the Senssex. Among the losers are Sun Pharma, BHEL, L&T, NTPC and Infosys. 

Oil prices were mixed with traders optimistic over falling US production, although they remain on edge as analysts warn of continued volatility. WTI jumped USD 1.57 and Brent crude gained USD 2.24 on Friday after data showed another drop in the number of oil rigs in operation in the United States.

Japan's Nikkei share average rose to a near eight-year high, helped by Wall Street's gains, while investors digested weaker-than-expected domestic growth data.

The Nikkei rose 0.8 percent to 18,031.84 points at midday, after reaching as high as 18,074.26 earlier, the highest level since July 2007. Japan's economy rebounded from recession in the final quarter of last year but growth was weaker than expected as household and corporate spending disappointed, underlining the challenge premier Shinzo Abe faces in shaking off decades of stagnation. 

Sensex up 178, Nifty ends at 8627; Axis Bank, Reliance gain

03:30 Market closing

 The market ended in green for second straight day. The Sensex was up 178.35 points at 28533.97, and the Nifty ended up 61.85 points at 8627.40. About 1729 shares have advanced, 1076 shares declined, and 216 shares are unchanged.

Axis Bank was up 3 percent while NTPC, Maruti, L&T and RIL were top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers were ONGC, BHEL, M&M, Cipla and Tata Motors.

03:20 pm Sugar sale

The world's second biggest sugar producer, is considering giving export incentives for 1.4 million tonnes raw sugar, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, as mills started distress sale of the sweetener to pay cane farmers.

"The ministry's views is that we should give subsidy for 1.4 million tonnes...the paper has been circulated for a cabinet meeting," Paswan told. Without any government incentive, Indian sugar is uncompetitive in world markets well supplied by low-cost producers Brazil and Thailand.

Subsidies of Rs 3,300 a tonne helped exports of raw sugar last year and government sources said last month India was considering a rise in the subsidy to Rs 4,000 this year.

03:00pm Interview

IT services firm Cognizant has guided to a 16 percent growth for calendar year 2015 and believes its forecast is fair since it is seeing increased traction in all its businesses.

The company is also eyeing 19 percent growth for fiscal FY15 led by higher spending in healthcare. The forecast is higher than Nasscom’s projection of 12-14 percent growth exports for FY16. The Nasdaq-listed IT company has crossed the USD 10 billion revenue mark. 

Speaking Malcolm Frank said it will continue to focus on growth and surpassing its peers has been a natural by product. Cognizant bases its upbeat guidance on strong demand environment across services, that too after factoring in higher Visa costs. The company does not think US will pass its Immigration Bill in next two years.

02:45pm Ricoh India locked at 20% upper circuit

Ricoh India has turned profitable during October-December quarter with net at Rs 10.6 crore as against loss of Rs 0.2 crore in the year-ago period. The bottomline was supported by strong revenue growth and higher other income.

Net sales of the leading office automation company shot up 80.3 percent to Rs 409 crore in Q3FY15 from Rs 226.8 crore in same quarter last year.

Goods business increased 115.6 percent Y-o-Y to Rs 289.8 crore with EBIT loss at Rs 5.5 crore (against loss of Rs 8.5 crore in Q3FY14). Services segment reported a 29 percent growth at Rs 119.3 crore with EBIT rising 64.6 percent at Rs 34.4 crore in the quarter gone by.

02:30pm Syndicate Bank in News

State owned Syndicate Bank has registered a decline of around 20 percent in net profit for the third quarter ended December 2014 at Rs 304.99 crore. Bank's net profit in the corresponding October-December quarter of previous fiscal stood at Rs 379.76 crore.

Total income has increased from Rs 5,011.28 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2013 to Rs 5,921.58 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2014," it said in a filing to the BSE.

The net interest margin, a gauge of profitability, fell to 2.25 percent during Q3-FY15, from 2.76 per cent in Q3-FY14.

On the asset front, gross non performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans increased to 3.6 percent of gross advances, from 2.8 percent in the year ago period. Net NPAs were at 2.38 percent of net advances in the third quarter of 2014-15, up from 1.66 percent during the same period a year earlier.

02:00pm Market Check

It's a steady day of trade on Dalal Street. The market gained for the second consecutive day led by banking stocks. The broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 1.3 percent each.

The Sensex advanced 208.90 points to 28564.52 and the Nifty climbed 72.05 points to 8637.60. About 1603 shares have advanced, 1060 shares declined, and 224 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

Ajay Srivastava of Dimensions Consulting expects the market to rise in the run-up to the Budget. He says FIIs are mainly betting on largecaps and banking names. He remains cautious on PSU banks as he sees another deep correction if NPAs rise.

Global markets traded mixed. Investors are cautious ahead of a meeting of eurogroup finance ministers in Brussels to discuss a solution to the Greek debt crisis.

The rupee traded marginally higher today tracking strength in equities. The 10-year benchmark yield is rangebound ahead of retail inflation data due tomorrow.

TCS is confident of beating NASSCOM's 12-14 percent growth guidance for FY16. Natarajan 

Chandrasekaran, CEO & MD that the company is seeing growth across markets, adding government's push for digital India will aid revenues.

Jindal Steel topped the buying list on Nifty, up 8 percent followed by L&T, Bank of Baroda, PNB, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, Maruti and NTPC with 2-3 percent gains. 

Sensex, Nifty continue to slide; infra, auto & metal bleed

1:45 pm Divestment: The success of Coal India offer-for-sale (OFS) that helped government garner close to Rs 26,000 crore by divesting 10 percent share is a positive and the government may have another two-three divestments before the end of this fiscal, says C Jayaram, Joint MD, Kotak Mahindra Bank .

 Speaking to from the sidelines of the three-day Kotak Conference, Jayaram says broadly, market sentiment remains positive and a possible victory of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi elections is unlikely to cause much uproar in the market.

1:30 pm Upgrade: Shares of Wockhardt rose 5 percent intraday after Citi upgraded the stock to buy from sell. The brokerage has also revised its target price to Rs 1880 per share following firm December quarter results.

Citi has even increased its FY16-17 core EPS by 2/10 percent based on progress on regulatory front and stated that resolution of 483s at Morton Grove is positive. It also adds that risk-reward looks reasonable for Wockhardt.

Meanwhile, last week Macquarie also had upgraded Wockhardt to outperform from neutral with a revised one-year target of Rs 1700 (from Rs 410) per share.

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The market is still under pressure dragged mostly by metals, auto and infra stocks. The Sensex is down 287.96 points or 1 percent at 28429.95. The Nifty is down 80.65 points at 8580.40. About 915 shares have advanced, 1664 shares declined, and 208 shares are unchanged. 

ONGC, Bajaj Auto, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Labs and Axis Bank are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are GAIL, Tata Steel, Cipla, Bharti Airtel and Sesa Sterlite.

Japan's Nikkei share average edged up as the yen weakened against the dollar after strong US jobs data, but gains were limited as weak Chinese trade numbers capped risk appetite.

The Nikkei ended up 0.4 percent at 17,711.93, but off an intraday high of 17,799.49, the highest since Jan. 30.

The broader Topix added 0.6 percent to 1,424.92, and the JPX-Nikkei Index 400 gained 0.5 percent to 12,916.95. Analysts said that while some investors took heart from the weakening yen after the US data, others were concerned that liquidity may shrink in the global market if the US Federal Reserve increases rates too soon.